Developing Indian Human Resource: Role of Psychological Capital and Protean Career Orientation

In the 1980's and the 90's, it was not common for individuals to leave their current jobs and opt for a career change. They were dependent on their organisation to create new opportunities and guide them towards career goals. With globalization, the current scenario has seen a change in such attitudes and orientations. The individuals have come to realise that they have their own goals regarding their career and how they see their lives with a long term perspective and satisfaction. Such career orientation requires an intrinsic positive push for the individual with makes him/her reach the goals. This positive approach (psychological capital) may help them to orient themselves for the challenges that may come their way in order to achieve their career goals. Keeping this in mind, the research paper looks to build a relationship between protean career orientation and psychological capital. The paper will be focusing in the importance of these two variables in the Indian context, where the status and remuneration of the job still holds a lot of importance over the satisfaction of achieving one's career goals. The population of India is very young, with around 48% of the population between 15-45 years (Census, 2011). It is important that such individuals be guided and directed towards carving the path towards a fulfilling career.